How To Monitor Or Restrict Activity On An iPad

Here is how you can monitor and/or restrict activity on an iPad or iPad 2 that may be used by your kids or someone else that you might want to keep track of. A lot of the time there might be only one iPad in the household or you might leave it home and your kids use it for playing games, etc. Here is how you can feel more safe when others use your iPad.

How To Monitor And Restrict Activity On An iPad

The first thing we want to cover are some things you can do on the iPad itself. There are some great and often overlooked settings that you might want to explore which will help restrict activity directly on the iPad itself. You might use these settings for example if you are going to be sharing your iPad with kids or if you are letting them use it during the day or times when you are not using it.

Restricting Activities On The iPad

To get started, tap on Settings > General > Restrictions. Within this area of your iPad, you will notice that there are some things you can do to restrict and protect what is allowed to be done on the iPad. Here is what you can do with these powerful settings.

Remove Apps. If you do not want kids or others using specific apps on your iPad, then you can remove them temporarily so they can not be used. Here are the apps you can restrict:

Safari

YouTube

Camera

FaceTime

iTunes

Ping

When you turn one of these “off”, you are restricting access to it by removing it from the iPad screen. They will return once you turn the restriction back to “on”.

Installing and Deleting Apps. When you turn this feature “Off” it will restrict anyone using your iPad from installing apps or deleting apps. This is one of the best restrictions there is because you can completely avoid a situation where someone might go to the App Store and buy a whole bunch of apps (if they know your iTunes password). It also avoids kids installing apps that parents may not want them using such as ones rated for 17+.

Allow Changes. This setting is perfect for parents with kids that like to explore settings. It means that you can turn on a feature that restricts any changes made to your accounts on the iPad. Thus they can not delete your email accounts or add new ones.

Allowed Content. Another set of essential settings for parents or for lending out your iPad. These settings control the following:

In-App purchases. This allows you to restrict someone from making in-app purchases and thus running up a very large bill

Music & Podcasts. Another excellent setting or kids. This allows you to restrict music and podcasts from being played that may contain explicit content.

TV Shows. This setting allows you to restrict what rating of TV show someone can play on the iPad.

Apps. A great setting for controlling what kinds of apps can be launched as rated for certain ages.

Game Center. Here are two settings that are important for parents to use when letting kids use their iPad. These control the ability to play multiplayer games and/or adding friends into these games.

Restrictions on the iPad are all controlled via a password which s a 4-digit number you choose. Do not choose something your kids or others you lend your iPad to will be able to guess. Using these restrictions is one of the best ways to assure that you can let your kids play on the iPad safely. Just remember to turn them off/on when you get your iPad back.

Monitoring Activity On The iPad

One of the best ways to monitor activity on the iPad is to use a browser that allows you the ability to filter out internet activity. If you enable the restrictions from the settings above and remove Safari then you can use an “internet safe” browser to assure much better control. And as a parent this is a huge relief. The Ranger Browser is one of the best at doing this for you and there are actually two versions.

Ranger Browser ($14.99)

Ranger Browser is a customizable Parental Controls and Safe Internet Filter. Ranger Browser is a fully customizable Safe Browser designed specially for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Parents and employers are able to access the browsing history and customize the Internet filter settings from anywhere in the World. In addition, Ranger Browser allows you to limit Internet access to the times you determine.

Ranger Browser GPS Edition ($19.99)

Ranger Browser *GPS Edition* – Customizable Parental Controls and Safe Internet Filter that allows parents to see where (and when) their children were, anywhere in the World.

Parents and employers are able to access the browsing history and customize the Internet filter settings from anywhere in the World. In addition, Ranger Browser allows you to limit Internet access to the times you determine.

This includes all of the features of the regular version above but has the added GPS functionality.

There are some great ways to monitor and/or restrict access on the iPad and iPad 2. This is perfect for parents that want to let their kids use their iPad but do not want to worry about where they are going on the Internet or if they do not want certain activities done on the iPad.

Comments

For those with a Jailbroken iPad, another option for other programs is Locktopus from Cydia. It allows you to require a password before you can run any program you select to lock. I think it cost about a buck. it works well and items not otherwise controlled like email can be locked as well if you don’t want people reading your email. You need to fully quit a program that might be running in the background to fully lock, though.

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